The Soul's Desire
by Yurutono
Summary: Half the human, half the rights. As part of a group of individuals, Kotori has taken it upon herself to break into the aquarium and rescue a mermaid from the clutches of a tourist industry a law system that says she has less rights. But after this breakout, Kotori gets more than she realised.


**Author's Note:** This is my entry for the Love Live Big Bang 2016 on Tumblr! I hope the effort I put into this shows.

But please, before reading look at my partner's amazing pieces for this fic ( post/152561736800/ill-come-back-sometime-im-not-sure-when-but-i ), (if you have trouble with the link it's probably better to go to my Tumblr and find the link to their blog there), it's been amazing to work and collab with someone and I'm really happy to have worked with them!

* * *

Kotori hated this place, the commercialisation, the atmosphere and what went on due to various legal loopholes, but she tried her best to smile as she went through the office and begrudgingly paid the fare.

She checked the mapped layout on the wall and dodged a few oncoming people, pinpointing the room with the main attraction. She knew enough about the mermaid living there, or rather, forced to live there. She had specifically picked an odd time in the day and the week to come to the aquarium, to have as few people around as possible.

She sighed as she went around the corner; she didn't mind the fish in captivity. They were quite different to a mermaid, but there was still a huge controversy that wasn't going to be resolved anytime soon.

 _Half the human, half the rights._

That was a saying in circulation around social media, anonymous online message boards and discussions as an act of criticism behind the slowness of the courts and the places that kept mermaids captive. With the sheer amount of technicalities that came with something that was half human, half _anything_ , some people felt it was a necessity to take matters into their own hands. Whilst Kotori herself had never usually found herself agreeing with vigilante justice, she thought that sometimes she could see where people came from.

She was temporarily snapped out of her thoughts as her phone buzzed in her pocket.

 **Honoka:**

 _hey have u guys found ur marks yet_

 _i have_

 **Nico:**

 _mine doesn't look like she appreciates being here. i didn't even know there were grumpy mermaids._

 **Eli:**

 _Nah, there's literally a huge line to see mine, this is ridiculous._

Kotori quickly glossed over the messages and thought up a reply.

 **Kotori:**

 _I'm about to see mine, good luck Eli-chan!_ ( /• 8 • )/

Sliding her phone back into her pocket and ignoring the subsequent buzzes that followed, she pushed through the doors and noted the dim lights, but the light shining through the tank provided what the lights above didn't. She noted that the tank was likely connected to the ocean with a water filtration system,

But whilst there was a tank, a viewing area and an information board, the most important thing was nowhere in sight, the tank appeared empty, aside from a few bits of scenery likely to make what was supposed to be in there feel more comfortable. But the mermaid was missing.

The most reasonable explanation was that she was hidden away somewhere; she was probably nervous. Kotori frowned; even at this time in the day, when barely anyone was around and there were so few people to put the mermaid ill at ease, she didn't want to be seen?

Stress lead to all kinds of problems when it came to health, not to mention being out of sight and sheltered constantly. The rock arrangement in the middle of the tank was likely where the mermaid took solitude, she thought, as she skirted around the viewing area. Whilst the tank wasn't completely surrounded, the viewing area was enough to make anyone inside the tank nervous she supposed.

She glanced around, and seeing that there were only a few small huddles of people around close to the glass tank.

As her phone buzzed again, she quickly checked it with a sigh.

 **Eli:**

 _Finally got in to see mine! How are things on your end Kotori?_

 **Kotori:**

 _I think mine's hiding_ (ー8ー;) _Probably hidden in the scenery_

 **Eli:**

 _HELP I THINK SHE'S FLIRTING WITH ME?_

 **Nico:**

 _? what ? eli what is happening_

 **Honoka:**

 _hahAH OH MY GOD_

 **Eli:**

 _EVERYONE'S WATCHING ME I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE I'VE GOT EVERYTHING I NEED_

Kotori was wrenched away from the admittedly entertaining group chat by the sudden knocking on glass. She turned her head and only a few meters away was a child banging on the glass, despite the obvious sign saying not to.

Kotori saw a movement out of the corner of her eye, and a quick glance in that direction affirmed her suspicion; she had spotted the tail of the mermaid whom had disappeared back into her refuge, but as the banging started up louder, there was a sudden movement as she poked her head out and looked for the source of the noise, wincing almost permanently due to the sound running through the water.

Finally, the mother of the child began to try to get him to step away from the glass, but as children typically learn, when they misbehave and gain something, they will misbehave again. So when he stopped for a few seconds and the mermaid threatened to disappear, he banged once more, and she flinched again, the mother finally able to wrench him away from the glass, promptly taking him out the room as he protested.

It struck Kotori just then that it was now just her in the viewing area, and the mermaid had turned her attention to her. As soon as their gaze met, she ducked back down behind the rocks and she was hidden again. Kotori let out a small huff as she approached the glass, not sure if she would be able to get her attention again.

Even if she wouldn't, Kotori came to the conclusion that the mermaid didn't like the attention and the spotlight placed on her. She seemed timid enough, even if it was only Kotori in the viewing area.

Kotori idly glanced at the obvious camera in the room, shrugging and raising her hand and gently rapping her knuckle twice against the glass tank.

She was about to try once more before the mermaid peered around the rock again, so Kotori lowered her hand and shoved the other in her pocket. She sent her a reassuring smile and was pleasantly surprised when she didn't hide again, instead glancing back and forth anxiously.

Seeing that Kotori was the only person in the viewing area, she seemed somewhat more at ease. Kotori herself guessed that the glass would muffle any speech, so in order to get her closer, she pulled a notepad and pen out of her bag. The camera wouldn't be able to see any of the messages; this would probably be seen as harmless.

This had seemed to have piqued the mermaid's curiosity, finally swimming out and towards her. She was about to write her small note, when she caught sight of the sunlight bleeding into the tank and reflecting off bright green scales. She was transfixed momentarily, not realising that she was right in front of her behind the glass, before Kotori shook herself out of it and scribbled down a quick ' _hello!'_

As she showed the note to her, she seemed to understand, giving her a nervous wave, as Kotori smiled and wrote another note that got straight to the point.

' _Do you like it here?'_

Kotori didn't really know what she would do if she said yes. But she watched as the mermaid shook her head after glancing around. Kotori sent her a reassuring smile before scribbling another note.

' _I'm here to get you out. Is that okay?'_

The mermaid nodded quickly and she wrote one final quick note.

' _I'll come back sometime, I'm not sure when, but I promise.'_

She nodded inside the tank and Kotori put her notebook back inside her bag, then giving her a small wave before heading out. She took out her phone to see the text conversation, which had remained somewhat inactive aside from the couple of comments teasing Eli.

 **Kotori:**

 _Successfully managed to communicate with my mark! \_ ( • 8 • )/

 **Honoka:**

 _ayyy nice one_

 **Eli:**

 _Now that this is over with, we need to sort out the night we do our breakouts._

 **Nico:**

 _how about three days from now? gives us prep time and stuff_

Kotori nodded as she exited the aquarium.

 **Kotori:**

 _Works for me!_

 **Eli:**

 _Yep that's fine._

 **Honoka:**

 _im not gonna be awkward lol_

 **Nico:**

 _wow for once_

 **Honoka:**

 _how dare you i mean i could turn around and say "no that isnt a good day u gotta reschedule lmao" but no nico chan i am the better person here today dont be petty_

 **Nico:**

 _say that to my face and i might take you seriously._

 **Eli:**

 _Break it up you two. If you're gonna do this, do it in real life, you know what this group chat is for._

 **Honoka:**

 _yeah nico chan._

 **Nico:**

 _i'm gonna kick your ass one day, kousaka_

 **Honoka:**

 _can u even reach my ass_

At this point, it became clear to Kotori, that she didn't have the energy or feel like it was important enough to intervene in the conversation, so she simply dropped her phone back in her bag, and after a while, finally arriving back at her apartment.

Kotori lay back on her bed after tossing her bag aside, staring idly up at the ceiling. Three days to prepare. She glanced over to her right and looked over her wetsuit, then the oxygen tanks beside it. She couldn't break into the aquarium from the front after all, and she figured that there would be less security around the ocean. And if the ocean was connected to the mermaid's tank, then she could easily sneak in and climb up beside the water filtration system. There would still be cameras of course, but that was nothing gloves, a chest binder and a balaclava couldn't fix. Besides, how do you track a mermaid in the ocean?

* * *

 **Eli:**

 _Everyone good?_

 **Kotori:**

 _All set!_ (^8^)

 **Nico:**

 _yep_

 **Honoka:**

 _im ready bruh_

 **Eli:**

 _Although this is supposed to be a simultaneous thing, don't feel bad if you have to drop out or wait for a bit longer, getting caught during this whole thing is a no-go, but when the mermaids are broken out and gone, getting found out isn't too much of a problem._

 **Nico:**

 _yeah i don't think any of us want jail time._

 **Kotori:**

 _Alright! I'm going to be leaving my phone behind and heading off soon! Good luck everyone!_

 **Eli:**

 _Yeah, good luck everyone._

 **Nico:**

 _good luck._

 **Honoka:**

 _let'S DO IT_

Kotori left on that last message, gathering up her admittedly suspicious looking equipment (if asked, she'd just say she was going late night diving with a friend), and heading off. The trip was short and no one was around thankfully, a pro of doing this kind of thing late at night. She headed out onto the pier, then taking out the rest of her equipment and setting up.

She checked her chest binder wouldn't cause any problems for her and she had the waterproof bag containing a balaclava and gloves so they wouldn't get wet. If she wore a wet balaclava she would probably end up feeling like she was being waterboarded. The precautions would hopefully help prevent her from being identified, or from being identified too quickly.

With her equipment set up and everything safely checked, she tied up her hair and looked out over the ocean. She knew her route well after careful planning from the help of Eli and Nico (Honoka reasoned that she wasn't good with mapping), and thus she was ready. And with that, she dived into the water.

It wasn't as cold as she had thought it would be, but she still wanted to move fast. Thankfully though, the swim was surprisingly short, and she stayed under the water out of worries of security, nearing the water filtration from the ocean to the mermaid tank.

As she arrived, Kotori swore she saw a silhouette dart away. Instead of resurfacing, she couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched, but whatever it was was far too hidden and likely far too fast for her to detect in the darkened waters. She wouldn't lie; it was a little bit disconcerting.

She swam a bit away from the system set up, as she suspected cameras were set up to see if there were any jamming problems, or even saboteurs.

Deciding it was safe, she resurfaced just so that her head was hidden from seeing the top of the tank. Her identity was safe for now, even without her extra equipment. As she was about to get the waterproof bag, she swore she caught another sight of the thing from earlier. And with little warning, 'it' burst out from under the water.

"What are you doing here, nya?!"

She jumped; of course she did, but thankfully the figure didn't seem too hostile, aside from the slight glare. Kotori glanced over the newcomer's body. No diving equipment, no nothing. Upon closer inspection, she spotted, albeit under dimmed water, the outline of a yellow tail.

Kotori took the regulator out of her mouth and kept treading water, "I could ask you the same question."

"Well, I come here all the time and I've never seen you befo- Hey, I asked you first, nya!"

Kotori tilted her head in curiosity, "You keep coming here?"

"Yeah, but you still haven't answered my question!"

"Do you know the person in there?" Kotori gestured with her head, whilst the mermaid in front of her recoiled a little bit in shock.

"Nya?!"

"Well, why would you keep coming back here to the shore if it wasn't a special reason?"

"Hmm… You have a point… But… Kayo-chin is in there… And I just want to find a way to talk to her, or maybe get her out, nya! But there's never any way to…"

Kotori frowned, but it quickly turned into a sympathetic smile, "Well, I'm here to help her out of there," She watched then as the girl in front of her brightened up and her eyes widened.

"Really?!"

Kotori nodded with the same smile, and the mermaid in front of her jumped to give her a hug. Of course, it was a little awkward, but Kotori found that she didn't have to do a lot of legwork with the other's tail keeping them above the surface.

"Of course! But you'll have to let me go so I can take a look at what's keeping her inside that tank."

"Oh! Yeah, I'll just let go," She said, pulling back, "And I'm Rin, nya!"

"I'm Kotori," She replied, then lifting up her waterproof bag again to get out the necessary attire.

Rin watched with a tilted head as she prepared even further. The balaclava had no mouth, but the gloves were essentially nothing flashy; just something to prevent fingerprints from being left behind.

"I'll be right back, hopefully with, Kayo-chin was it?"

"Oh, that's just what I call her! Her name's Hanayo."

"I'll tell her you're here as well."

"Okay!"

Rin eagerly waited as she watched Kotori haul herself up past the small elevated area that had previously hidden them from view. Now, cameras would probably catch her every move, so she had to work fast. If a silent alarm was triggered, she could be in deep trouble.

She trudged her way along the top of the building and saw the connection to the filtration system from the ocean. Then, the top of the glass tank.

She halted as she scouted out the top, there was the handle to a glass hatch that opened up, presumably to drop food and maintain the tank when needed. She crouched down and fiddled with the chain and padlock keeping it shut and frowned. The hairpin she had on her person wouldn't be enough for a lock like this, and honestly, she neither had the time nor secrecy to buy a proper kit. She would have to come up with an alternative.

She made her way back to Rin and knelt down, "I-I don't have any proper lock picking tools, I'm sorry…"

She couldn't have carried them on her person anyway, and she couldn't see any obvious offices or anything like that to pilfer a key from. Rin frowned of course, as she had expected, but then she brightened up, "I have an idea, nya!"

Rin brushed over her tail and stopped when she felt a loose scale. Wiggling it slowly, she pulled it off her tail with a wince, holding it up to her, "It's strong, nya! I'm pretty sure you can cut through stuff with it."

"Didn't that hurt?" She asked in concern.

"Yeah, a little… But it's to save Kayo-chin, so I'm willing to go through with it!"

Kotori couldn't help but smile underneath the mask, so she stood and gingerly took the scale with her. It was sharp on one end, but nothing serrated to cut through a chain. She had one option; cut through the glass and let it fall, creating a large enough hole for someone to fit through.

Whilst she made that decision, she figured that she should make her presence known to Hanayo inside, so, in the same way she had done before, she crouched down and rapped her knuckles against the glass. She waited for a moment for any movement, and soon enough, she spotted her and watched her swim up to meet her.

Kotori hoped she would recognise her vaguely even with the equipment she had on. And thankfully, she seemed to, as her expression changed from sleepy to excited.

Hanayo moved out the way as Kotori got to work, the mermaid tilting her head when she saw the colouration of the scale, a colouration she recognised.

She etched a rectangle as best she could first, and when happy with the shape, she cut deeper, pushing the sharper edge through and slowly slicing cleanly. As she got to the final edge to cut, she glanced to make sure Hanayo was out the way, then, in one swift movement, she drew the final line.

The glass fell into the water below, and when it had safely passed, Hanayo swam up and poked her head out the top, then reaching up to place her hands on the glass to push herself up. She wouldn't make it to the water without Kotori's help, so she began to slowly help her out.

"Take it slowly, if you need time just tell me," Kotori reassured, although the balaclava muffled her slightly.

Soon enough, Hanayo was sat above the tank before Kotori knelt down next to her, "Is it okay to pick you up?"

Feeling the dryness of the air, Hanayo held back from speaking, only nodding as Kotori moved her arm underneath her tail and the other under her back to lift her up in the bridal position, and out of reflex, she brought her own arms up around Kotori's neck to help her support her.

She then began to walk her way back to the water's edge, she crouched down and let her back into the sea.

"Kayo-chin!" Rin immediately dived under the water beneath Hanayo to grab her around the waist and eagerly bringing her closer, not even waiting to let her fully recover.

"Rin-chan!" Hanayo gasped out at the unexpected greeting as Rin eagerly tangled with her in the water.

"Aaah, I never thought I'd see you again, nya!" She nuzzled her enthusiastically, not noticing Kotori sliding into the water carefully, then pulling off her balaclava and putting it back into her bag, as well as the gloves.

She didn't want to spoil the moment, smiling gently as she watched the two reunited mermaids keep each other close. She wasn't sure if tears were being shed, but it was safe to bet they were.

It took a while, but the two resurfaced, one with a grin and one with a more gentle smile, "Thank you for this!"

It was the first time Kotori had heard her voice, and she felt a warmth in her chest briefly, "I'm happy to help! But it isn't safe here, so we should go, yeah?"

Rin and Hanayo exchanged a glance before then nodding and then Rin took Kotori by the wrist, "We know a place, nya!"

Kotori had just enough time to put on her respirator before Rin eagerly pulled her along, Hanayo trying her best to slow Rin down to make sure she didn't end up being too vigorous with Kotori.

Soon enough, Kotori was being pulled comfortably in tandem with the two mermaids. If she was honest, she hadn't expected things to go this way. But what had she been expecting out of this? It wasn't simply like she was dealing with wildlife that couldn't communicate and would swim off immediately to never be seen again.

As her thoughts wandered, the trio soon came to a small cave. As it was high tide, the mermaids easily swam inside with her, Rin finally letting go of her wrist, so she took the opportunity to pull herself up onto the rocks and take out her respirator again, sighing as she sat down.

Both mermaids in turn poked their heads out of the water in a somewhat amusing fashion, Kotori would admit, before she yawned a tad tiredly as Rin propped her arms up on a nearby rock and idly kicked her tail to keep her in position.

The cave was quite dark, and it took her a moment to adjust, "You found this place?"

"Yeah, we just have to be careful when it's low tide, nya…"

"U-um…" After a short pause and a moment of wringing her hands, Hanayo spoke up again, "I-I would really like to thank you again! I really didn't like it there…"

"You're welcome, but I just didn't feel like it was right for you to be kept there. I'm so glad you're happier and out of there."

Hanayo smiled, seemingly happy she had gotten that off her chest and Kotori felt that small flood of warmth again; she felt like she had made a difference.

"Oh, yeah… Rin-chan, where did that scale come from?"

"Uhh, from me…" Rin sheepishly admitted, turning her gaze away from Hanayo, which certainly didn't help her case.

"Y-you can't go pulling out your scales Rin-chan!"

"It's fine! It was loose anyway, nya!"

"Wh-why was it loose…?"

"... Had an accident, nya."

Hanayo frowned before quickly moving over to inspect Rin's tail briefly, much to her chagrin.

"I'm fine!" Rin kicked her tail slightly in insistence until Hanayo pulled away, uneasily satisfied with her wellbeing.

"Okay, but still, no more pulling out scales," She said, suddenly more serious.

"It was just a one off, nya… But it was worth it!"

Kotori hugged her knees into her on the rock, watching the friendly interaction, as if nothing had happened.

"But… I don't really know how to thank you, o-or repay you for this…" Hanayo turned her attention to Kotori.

"I don't need any repayment, really! I did this because I felt it was unfair to you," Kotori waved her hand in dismissal of the proposal that Hanayo had to pay her back somehow.

Rin dipped her head under the water to refresh herself, deciding it wasn't her place to cut in.

"Oh, ah, I forgot to mention, just in case you run into any trouble again, can I ask you to meet me back here once every week or so? It would really put my mind at ease," Kotori said, finding herself all the more eager to see these two again.

The two glanced at each other, then Rin shrugged a bit, so Hanayo was left to answer for the two of them, "We don't have any problems with that… What day?"

"Hmm, today next week? And so on?"

She nodded, "That's fine with the two of us I think…"

Kotori smiled and clasped her hands together, "Okay! Then it's settled! But I have to head off for now, it's late and I have to let some people know this was a success."

"Some people, nya?" Rin tilted her head, speaking up again.

"Oh! Well, mermaid captivity is happening in other aquariums too… Three other people are also getting mermaids back into the ocean as well tonight, so I have to report back to them," Kotori explained.

"We probably shouldn't keep you any longer then…" Hanayo looked up as Kotori smiled down at her.

"Alright, well," She began to slide down from her rock, "Next week, same time as now? We don't want it to be too busy. I'd just recommend avoiding coastline contact or anything like that."

Rin and Hanayo nodded, "I'll make sure to not get captured again."

"I'll be careful too, nya!"

After they had finished, Kotori began to swim back to shore so she could make her way home without being spotted.

* * *

 **Kotori:**

 _I might be the first one back, but I did it!_ /(^8^)/

 **Honoka:**

 _damn i wanted to be first u beat me to it_

 **Nico:**

 _it's not a competition._

 **Honoka:**

 _we could have made it one,,,_

 **Eli:**

 _I just got back._

 **Honoka:**

 _hahah eli in last place_

 **Nico:**

 _not a competition._

 **Honoka:**

 _let me live my life_

 **Eli:**

 _I just scrolled up this chat and I don't want to ask. So everyone got it done?_

 **Kotori:**

 _Yep!_

 **Nico:**

 _uh huh._

 **Honoka:**

 _yee_

As they each signed off, likely to get some much needed and deserved rest, Kotori was no exception. After her equipment had been carefully stowed away, ready for the next week, she collapsed into her own bed.

The next morning, Kotori had gotten up considerably later than she would have normally. But she deserved it, she reasoned.

She pulled on her dressing gown, leaving her bedroom and instead collapsing down onto the sofa to flick on the news; what they had done last night was sure to have caught mainstream attention already.

And she was right, police were already investigating the etched hole, looking around for any possible clues. Surveillance was limited, as she, the culprit, had left under the water and through an area that was blocked from the camera's view.

But what truly made her feel a swell of pride was the fact that they had no suspects. She had been particular about her appearance, leaving anything behind evidence wise, and although they had her pinned as female, 't particularly bother her that much.

The controversy was rife online, message boards buzzing with speculation, especially seeing as there had been three other reported breakouts amongst the other aquariums keeping mermaids in captivity.

Some condemned the acts, others praised it, stating that the legal system wasn't working fast enough to give these 'creatures' rights.

Kotori checked her phone to mainly find the group chat admiring their handiwork, as well as exchanging stories about what they had done last night to break out their marks.

Kotori was no exception. She joined in, and a sense of relaxation, pride and significance mixed together to keep her positively glowing throughout the day and even the rest of the week.

* * *

Kotori had found she could simply vault over the rocks carefully at low tide, but she was cautious of high tide, so she still wore her wetsuit.

With a bit of stepping, she soon came to the edge, swinging around the corner to make her way into the cave. Even under the darkened water she could tell she was the first to arrive; fluorescent tails were not good for stealth purposes.

She settled herself on the rock she had done so last week, hugging her knees into her chest. She simply preoccupied herself by staring out of the cave and across the moonlit water, glancing over the crescent in the sky. Night time was more relaxing than daytime, Kotori thought.

It didn't take much longer for the duo to appear, Rin bursting upwards and splashing Kotori with small droplets.

"Hey, nya!"

Hanayo seemed a little bit more reserved; perhaps a bit more so than she would have expected, even considering her nature. She raised her head and rubbed her thumb over one eye somewhat tiredly, "Hello Kotori-san…"

"You needn't worry about formalities, okay? Just call me Kotori-chan," She smiled before tilting her head in concern, "Are you feeling okay?"

"Well… I wasn't on the way here. It kinda got worse throughout the week… But I feel strangely better somehow!" Hanayo managed a much stronger smile, whilst Rin propped herself up.

"Yeah, Kayo-chin seems a lot better now! I'm glad, nya!"

Kotori thought that that seemed somewhat odd, but she decided not to push it upon seeing how happy Hanayo was about feeling better.

She looked at Rin, who suddenly had a strange contemplative expression on her face, before suddenly snapping back to its usual cheery nature, not noticing how Kotori had spotted her. She thought that that kind of expression didn't fit on a kind of person like Rin, but now that she thought about it, that was kind of a bit of a rude thought.

For saying that Kotori was only there to check up on the two of them, she felt like she had some kind of bond with them. Which was strange, considering that she hadn't really gotten to know them that well, but they seemed welcoming enough towards her.

It only made her feel a little bit bad, considering how some humans had scooped one of them up and proceeded to make them a tourist attraction, as if they had no independent thoughts or feelings, no friends, no family and were just another ordinary sea creature.

She sighed inwardly as the conversation carried on and she joined in, glad that it had moved away from Hanayo's apparently spontaneous illness.

* * *

As time dragged on and the danger of low tide began to arise, Kotori said her goodbyes as the two mermaids swam away and she hopped over the rocks and back to civilisation.

Rin had let her mind wander; surely she had heard something to do with mermaids getting ill like this? Then again she had never paid too much attention surrounding this kind of thing. The ocean was there to be explored, not to learn about the boring mundane aspects of life.

But now that it struck her, she was trying to wrack her brains to think of what was said to her. Ah well, that simply meant that she would have to go out of her way to find what it was. This was her best friend after all.

She glanced over at the aforementioned best friend, seeing that she was suddenly lethargic-looking again.

"Kayo-chin, are you okay?"

"I don't know, I'm feeling a bit ill again…"

Rin had a puzzled expression, "Again? You were just feeling better, right, nya?"

Hanayo nodded slowly, "I'm going to go and take a rest, it is getting late anyway…"

Rin nodded, "Okay. I'll just be checking on… Things, nya."

Hanayo gave her a curious look before shrugging it off, knowing how her friend could sometimes forget things, or just be generally vague, as she swam off.

Rin sighed as she then began to make her way towards a small cave, remembering how the inhabitant had just recently come back on the same day as Hanayo. It was nice to see and talk to her again, she thought.

"Nozomi-chan?" Rin asked, peering around the entrance to the cave and inside, wondering if she hadn't caught her at the right time, "Are you here, nya?"

"Oh? Rin-chan?" Nozomi queried as she showed herself inside the cave, swimming towards her, "What's up? It's quite late, where's Hanayo-chan?"

Rin scratched at her neck, "A-ah, she's a bit ill, nya… Which is why I wanted to ask you something."

Nozomi folded her arms and nodded in thought, "I see, you wanted to ask why she was feeling ill, right?"

Rin nodded uneasily, "I remember something was mentioned before by you, I just can't… Remember what it was, nya…" She sheepishly admitted.

Nozomi chuckled, "You can't remember, or you weren't listening?"

"... Wasn't listening, nya…"

Upon seeing Rin's guilty expression, Nozomi shook her head, "It's fine, but maybe don't learn things only when it suits you, mm? It's always good to have knowledge of the world around you."

Rin put on an expression that told Nozomi she didn't buy that at all, and that she likely wouldn't heed her advice. But she continued anyway, waving Rin inside.

"So what kind of illness is it? Something a bit of medicine or rest can cure, or something else?"

"Well, she's been feeling weird ever since she got broken out of the aquarium…"

"Was she fine inside the aquarium?"

"I think so, nya."

"Has she been having moments where she's been okay?"

Rin nodded slowly, "Yeah… Just earlier in fact, when we were just meeting up with Kotori-chan she seemed to be okay."

"Who's Kotori-chan?" Nozomi's brow furrowed before she quirked an eyebrow up, catching onto something.

"Oh! She was the one who broke Kayo-chin out of the aquarium!" Rin chirped, "She's really nice, I think you'd like her, nya!"

Nozomi suddenly had a grin on her face, "So she's been feeling ill suddenly after meeting this Kotori-chan?"

She nodded, "Yeah. Why, does that have something to do with how she's been feeling, nya?"

"Probably more than you think," She kept that same grin as she folded her arms, "You know, after I was broken out, I felt ill too. Lethargy, nausea, all that stuff. I thought it could have been something to do with how I was kept and where I was kept, but it wasn't going away. Maybe I was just under the weather?"

Nozomi pushed away a stray lock of hair, "I had plenty of time to think about it, being ill and all. So, I went to go and see the person who broke me out three days later, seeing as we had agreed on a check up to make sure that I hadn't been caught again or anything. When I got to the meeting place though, I felt strangely better. Just like how your Hanayo-chan felt when she was with Kotori-chan, see?"

"So… Why are you okay now, nya?"

"I'm getting to that. So what do you think it is about these humans that makes us feel better when we're closer to them? You haven't been feeling ill after meeting Kotori-chan, have you?"

She shook her head, "Nope."

"So there must be something individual about them, right? And like how Elichi was unique to me, and how must be Kotori-chan is unique to Hanayo-chan?"

Rin nodded slowly, following her, "Right… But what, nya?"

"Well, as you probably know, I'm not feeling ill anymore, so I'm confident that I know what's happening."

"Y'do? What is it, nya?!"

Rin was close to grasping onto her shoulders, but Nozomi didn't seem to mind too much about how boisterous she was being.

"Alright, alright, tell me Rin-chan, were you ever told about soulmates?"

Rin tilted her head; she had heard about it before, in fact, it was probably from Nozomi herself, "I have."

"Good, you should, because I did tell you about this."

"It… It was a while ago, nya!"

"Sure, sure," Nozomi replied teasingly, "Well, I suppose I need to refresh your memory then, don't I?"

Rin nodded quickly, not wanting to hold this up any longer.

"Well, I'll start then. Soulmates aren't exactly a new concept, to both merpeople and humans. But in human terms, it's more used of a term of endearment, yeah? When a human calls someone their soulmate, it isn't like the connection that we experience. Generally, we are more magical beings, I mean, we were even regarded as mythical at one point."

"Some humans are quick to dismiss this kind of stuff. But merpeople are different in the sense that we've known about the soul for a while. Although there isn't a lot we can do with it, a common theme is that we noticed when we fell in love, it hurt to be apart from that soulmate if you hadn't confessed. I think that's where Hanayo-chan's illness is coming from. A literal love sickness if you will."

Rin blinked and opened her mouth to say something, raising her index finger and narrowing her eyes in slight confusion, "Shorter version please, nya."

Nozomi stifled a groan before shaking her head, "It means, that our little Hanayo-chan has gone and found her soulmate without realising it. And that's what's causing the illness."

"Nya?! So how do we make her better?!" Rin replied, suddenly understanding.

"To put it in short, she needs to have her love reciprocated. But… There is a problem," Nozomi frowned.

"What?"

"When I say humans aren't like mermaids, I also mean their form of love is different. Humans don't really have specific soulmates, they can fall in and out of love and can have multiple partners over the course of their lives. If Kotori-chan isn't interested in her, well… Hanayo-chan could be afflicted for the rest of her life. There are records of this happening, sadly…"

"Well… We have to try, right? If she's going to be ill either way then there's no point in leaving it, nya."

"That's a good point. But I'm afraid I have to leave it up to you, I have my own things to attend to yeah? You're her best friend, help her through this."

Rin nodded, suddenly invigorated, "Yeah! Thank you Nozomi-chan!"

The two exchanged a tight hug, before Rin swam off to rejoin Hanayo.

* * *

"Are you feeling up to it?" Rin asked, wringing her hands above Hanayo, who was relaxing as best she could on a flat bed of rocks.

"No… J-just tell her I'll be fine soon enough… I don't want her to think I'm being rude…"

As much as Rin didn't want to take advantage of this illness, she realised that this gave her a perfect opportunity to talk to Kotori alone about the matter at hand.

Besides, it wasn't like she had caused this situation. It was more of an unfortunate coincidence than anything.

"Okay," Rin said somewhat dejectedly, moving over to give her a small, non-crushing hug as best she could before swimming off towards the cave.

Kotori was already there when she arrived; she had probably meandered her way there a little bit slower than normal.

She broke the surface of the water and smiled up at Kotori, "Hey!"

"Hi Rin-chan. Is Hanayo-chan okay? Where is she?" There was suddenly more concern on her face than Rin thought there would be.

"Kayo-chin's been feeling ill again, she didn't feel up to coming along…"

"Oh. Has it gotten any worse?"

Rin thought for a moment, "It's kind of been on and off, nya," That must mean something to do with the distance between the two of them, right?

"So other than that, she's okay?"

"Yeah. But, I mean, I did try to look at what was wrong with her, nya."

"It's not just a simple illness?"

"I don't know. Could be," Rin sheepishly admitted, "But there was something else…"

Rin fiddled with her hands as Kotori tiled her head in concern, "It's hard to explain, nya…"

"Well, I've got time. Just explain slowly, okay?"

When Rin looked up to see her gentle smile, she began to understand why there was a possibility that she was Hanayo's soulmate. They were similar with their personalities, both kind and caring, but just different enough to provide a contrast. But Kotori seemed more confident and sure of herself, something Hanayo was, well, less so. With her confidence renewed, Rin began to explain what still wasn't one hundred percent clear in her mind.

"Well… Kotori-chan, humans have soulmates too, right? Or I mean… It's just something you call your partner, nya?"

"I suppose some people do. But it really depends on if you believe in souls or not."

"Do you believe in them?"

"Hmm, well, I suppose I do. I might not have done if I was born in an earlier time, but to me, if mermaids exist then I don't see why a soul can't."

Rin felt somewhat at ease when she said that, realising that, despite her own struggles with explanation, she felt like it would be a lot less difficult if Kotori was familiar and believed in the soul's existence.

"So, what if I were to tell you that soulmates are a thing for merpeople too, nya? But they're different to a human's soulmate."

"Then I would suppose it made sense," Kotori had a slight feeling she knew where this conversation was going, but how did Hanayo and her illness factor in?

With a thoughtful nod and a hard frown on her face, Rin tried to remember exactly what Nozomi had told her. She decided she could cut out a lot of it.

"So, um… When humans fall in love, would it make sense for it to like, feel bad to be away from them?"

"It would make sense, yes, but it might hurt even more if your love isn't returned. Not that I've ever experienced this kind of thing myself," She said with a small shrug.

"I have been told…"

She really wished Nozomi was here right now to explain this for her.

"That the reason why Kayo-chin is feeling ill…"

Why did she decide to do this with so little preparation?

"Is because, well…"

Her mind felt like it was going in circles.

"You're ah…"

She took a long pause, not even wanting to look up and see Kotori's likely confused and perhaps impatient expression.

"You're her soulmate. When, ah… When merpeople meet their soulmate and they're away from them, they feel ill. Right? Yeah, that's right… Oh! Nozomi-chan described it as a love sickness!"

Whilst Rin seemed pleased with her abilities to remember and relay this information, Kotori was quite bewildered by this sudden revelation.

"H-how can you be so sure?"

"Oh, right… Well, Nozomi-chan said she was the same after meeting her soulmate! She felt ill and all that, but after she talked to her, she felt better and when she confessed, the sickness was gone."

"With all due respect Rin-chan, that's a pretty big thing to drop on someone," Kotori said a little bit sheepishly.

"Oh. I guess…"

Rin didn't realise that. She probably should've thought about the connotations of what being a person's soulmate, a real one, actually meant. But, what was done was done and honestly, Rin thought that this was for the better. This was for her best friend, and whilst Kotori's feelings did, of course, matter, she had to push this forward. She didn't want Hanayo to spend weeks, if not months on end, with a sickness that slowed her entire life down.

"I know that you've only got the best intentions Rin-chan. I'll talk to her, okay? I just need some time to think about this."

Rin was just about to hurry out an apology, but she was pleased at that. Her face broke out into a grin and she just about launched herself at Kotori to hug her with her arms around her neck, earning a surprised yelp from her. But nonetheless, Kotori returned the hug with a smile herself, then helping Rin back into the water.

"I'll see her next week. Make sure to bring her along, even if she's not feeling up to it, okay? Oh, and tell her a little bit about what's going on, it's not something to drop on her."

"You can count on me, nya!"

* * *

"So what's this about Kotori-chan?"

Kotori had dropped into Honoka's apartment in the middle of the week. Her thinking about this entire situation alone wasn't bringing her any progress towards a conclusion, so perhaps the input of someone else within her inner circle would offer some decent advice. Besides, it might do her some good to talk to another human being about this.

"Well, first of all, how's your mermaid been doing?"

"Oh, Umi-chan's been fine! But y'know, she's actually a bit of a hardass. Stubborn too. She scolded me underneath the pier because apparently I eat too much bread. But she can't stop me!" Honoka said defiantly, "I mean, not like she can stop me on land. She's been a little… Off recently though. Maybe she's just not feeling well... What about you?"

At the mention of another mermaid feeling ill, Kotori frowned. Whilst she had been skeptical of Rin and her rather brash claim, if it was happening to Umi, then perhaps there was more to this than she had expected.

Wait, Honoka's mermaid was feeling ill as well? That meant…

She shook her head; she couldn't suddenly drop that on Honoka. Maybe hint at it, but Honoka was not known for her ability to pick up on subtlety.

"Well… Now that I think about it, it's a little bit difficult to explain… I mean, what would you do if you were told you were someone's literal soulmate?"

"Uhh. Weird question, not gonna lie. I don't know. Depends who it is and who's telling me," She said with a shrug.

Kotori sighed, knowing this was a difficult question. She placed down the tea that was slightly too strong for her liking (although Honoka had very nicely made it for her and she was too polite to say anything), and tried her best to put this into a hypothetical scenario. But that served to be difficult.

"Are we talking like, actual soulmates or just kind of, 'I love you' soulmates? Because I mean, ever since mermaids turned out to be real, it's like, what's real and what's not, y'know? The line got kinda blurred," Honoka said, waving her hand vaguely for effect.

"Actual. I don't know… It's a pretty big thing to take in."

"So this is like a real thing? Not just a conversation starter?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. How would they even know something like that for sure?"

"Apparently it's different for mermaids, there's a way to know," Kotori explained.

"Wait!" Honoka suddenly cut the exchange short, closing her eyes as she collected herself, "Your soulmate is a mermaid?" She said, opening one eye.

"Well, it's what I've been told," Kotori said with a shrug, taking the tea again.

"That," Honoka couldn't help but let out a laugh, "Is brilliant, but a little bit weird. Still, how did they know, I mean…"

"I've been told it's like an illness? When they meet their soulmate and then are away from them, they feel ill."

"Ill, huh?" Honoka frowned in thought, "So like, if you don't y'know, get together, what happens?"

Kotori paused, "... I don't know."

"Hm. Well. I don't know really. I would say give it a go to be honest," She shrugged.

"A soulmate is a lot more serious than just jumping into a relationship and seeing where it goes, Honoka-chan."

"Eeh, well, how do you feel about this whole thing? At the end of this I guess it's about how you see this."

"I'm… I'm worried I'll lead her on. What if I try this and I don't feel right? It's like I was told, human's and merpeople's relationships are different. Humans fall in and out of love and I don't want to subject her to that if this whole thing is true."

Honoka tilted her head and huffed in thought, "Why not do a trial thing? Just… Try it and see how it goes and how you feel?"

Kotori raised her eyebrows at the suggestion; she couldn't lie, although a few of the ideas Honoka came up with were oftentimes, well, stupid was the only way to put it, when she came up with something decent, it was sometimes quite sound.

"I think that is a really good idea, actually."

Honoka looked quite proud of herself, giving her a bright grin, "I'm glad!"

"I should probably be heading off though... I have some work to do and I've been putting it off. Try not to start any more chat fights with Nico-chan."

"With all due respect Kotori-chan, you can't tell me what to do," She said with a grin, whipping out her phone.

Kotori rolled her eyes, but couldn't help smiling as she exited the apartment and looked to see her phone buzz.

 **Honoka:**

 _hey yazawa_

 **Eli:**

 _Honoka, no!_

 **Honoka:**

 _honoka yes_

 **Nico:**

 _what?_

 **Honoka:**

 _you suck_

 **Nico:**

 _:0 ?! i've been attacked?!_

Putting her phone back in her bag, she walked home, glad to have some kind of plan in her mind.

* * *

"Hey, Kayo-chin?"

"Mmn?"

"You want me to stay, right, nya?"

"Of course I do, but if you have other places to be, I mean…" Hanayo rubbed her wrist and avoided her gaze.

"I want to stay, nya!" Rin declared as she swam to Hanayo's side, "You wanna just talk?"

When Hanayo nodded, Rin realised it would be the perfect time to talk to her covertly about soulmates.

"... Have you ever heard of a soulmate?"

"Yeah," Hanayo said, nodding.

"Do you know how they work?"

"Is it like… Two merpeople destined to be together?"

"Yeah, yeah! But, what do you think would happen if a merperson's soulmate was a human?"

"Wouldn't things be the same?"

Rin intertwined her hands with Hanayo's delicately, "Nozomi-chan told me it was different. Things can go either way, nya."

"So… Rejection or love?"

"Human relationships are weird though, right? They can go through multiple partners, nya. Mermaids only have one," Rin frowned slightly.

"How do you know someone's your soulmate though?"

Rin hesitated for a moment. This was really for Kotori and Hanayo to talk about themselves, not for her to blunder through with, "Nozomi-chan didn't tell me, nya."

"She didn't?"

"Nope," Rin felt a bit bad for lying, but this wasn't a harmful lie, she thought. Quite the opposite.

"I'm feeling a little tired. I'll be going to sleep now Rin-chan."

Rin nodded and squeezed her hand gently, "Okay, nya. Sleep well."

After a small pause, she said, "Feel better soon."

* * *

As the week had passed, Kotori felt herself getting more and more nervous. There was a conflict in her mind as to what she should do or what she should say, or what a burden it would be if it turned out that she didn't like Hanayo in that way.

But now she was sat on the rocks in the cave at the usual time, waiting for the other two to appear. She guessed that they would probably be somewhat late, due to Hanayo's lethargy.

But soon enough, the two surfaced, Rin's arm around Hanayo's shoulder. The swim there had probably been slow.

"Hey you two. Hanayo-chan, how have you been feeling?"

"Not… Much better," Hanayo sheepishly admitted as she was eased up onto the rocks with Rin's help.

Kotori frowned, feeling the burden weigh on her all the more, "Ah, okay."

Rin sent a glance towards Kotori, as if to ask when she was going to talk about the situation at hand. Kotori could only manage a quick glance back and a small nod.

Rin gave one more look towards Hanayo before she lazily kicked her tail, "Kayo-chin, I'll see you in a bit. I'm gonna go and talk to Nozomi-chan about the thing we were talking about last night, nya."

"Oh, okay," Hanayo actually managed a smile, which gave Rin some confidence that she was feeling better.

When she turned and went, Kotori felt quite alone, despite being with Hanayo. But she had to do this, not just for Hanayo.

"So… What did Rin-chan talk with you about last night?"

"Soulmates. We were just talking about y'know, how it worked. She didn't tell me how we know our soulmates."

It made sense Rin would leave that bit out. With a nod, Kotori decided to out Rin on that point.

"Well, she did tell me how they worked last week."

Hanayo looked confused, "She told me she didn't know though."

"Okay… I'm going to try and explain this as best I can, I mean, I'm not a merperson, I don't really understand this whole thing…"

Hanayo nodded slowly and silently.

"Apparently, it hurts for a mermaid to be away from their soulmate. As in, in an illness sense. The less the distance, the less bad the mermaid feels I assume…"

Hanayo blinked at the sudden realisation, seeing that even Kotori was struggling slightly with the explanation with a small tinge to her cheeks. But Hanayo herself would turn bright red when she made the connection.

"S-s-so what d-does this have to do w-with me…?"

Kotori couldn't help but chuckle a bit nervously at the blushing mess in front of her. In all honesty, it was somewhat cute. But she couldn't dwell on that when a more pressing issue remained.

"I have been told that there is a reasonable chance that, well… I'm your soulmate."

She tried not to hurry it out, not that that had helped Hanayo's case very much. She resorted to hiding her face in her hands before looking through the gaps in her fingers at Kotori timidly.

"Wh-what, erm, s-so, ah… What do we do…?"

"I mean… I thought about it for a bit. I didn't want to lead you on if I wasn't interested, but if I knew what was going on, I couldn't leave you in this state," Kotori shuffled onto the rock next to Hanayo's, even as she leant away slightly, out of embarrassment, not discomfort, "So, I've decided to do a trial period. I should do this properly shouldn't I?"

Kotori smiled at her and Hanayo lowered her hands, resorting to fiddling with them in her lap.

"Hanayo-chan, would you be my girlfriend?"

Hanayo couldn't help but notice the nausea that she had come to ignore, as well as some of the lethargy go away as she said those words. At the moment though, she thought she could only manage a squeak, so she simply nodded, the blush refusing to leave.

Kotori then sat directly next to her, putting an arm around her and bringing her in for a hug, "I'm glad."

' _I only hope this goes well for the both of us.'_

* * *

A bit of time had passed and Hanayo had told Rin the good news, seeming a lot more like her usual self. Rin had hated seeing her so miserable and now, she felt a need to spread the news to Nozomi.

She peeked into Nozomi's cave and was glad to see that she was there, but with her back turned. So, she decided to sneak up on her.

As silently as she could, Rin swam up and grabbed her by the sides, causing Nozomi to yelp, but then turn around and instantly make a grab for Rin's sides. The two tussled for a moment, but when Nozomi had a grasp on Rin's wrists, she couldn't help but laugh.

"Look at you, sneaking up on me. From the look on your face I can tell something good's happened."

When Rin nodded, she continued, "Is it about our Hanayo-chan?"

"Yeah, nya! She's with Kotori-chan!"

"I'm glad!" Nozomi clasped her hands together and sighed.

"But Rin-chan, if this whole thing works out, you know what happens, don't you?"

Rin tilted her head. Honestly, she hadn't thought that far forward. Nozomi shook her own.

"How do you think a happy and healthy relationship is going to exist when one lives on land, and the other lives in water? It's… Impossible really. There's no way for a human to gain a mer tail that I know of, but… There are ways for merpeople to lose their tails to live on land."

"Y-you mean, Kayo-chin would go and live on land?" Rin said, a bit distraught.

"I'm afraid so."

Rin stared at the sand below them, contemplating things.

"Well… At the end of all this, it's about Kayo-chin. If she would be happier and not ill on land with Kotori-chan, then my feelings don't really matter, nya… It's not like she would be leaving me entirely, she would still visit, nya!"

When the smile on her face faded into a more gentle one, she looked back at Nozomi, "If Kayo-chin is happy, I'm happy. Land, sea, it doesn't matter to me, nya."

"Rin-chan, that's very mature of you. You should feel proud of yourself," When she saw Rin's glassy eyes, she brought her in for a hug, "You're the best friend Hanayo-chan could ever wish for."

Rin squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to cry; not now, not here. But she couldn't help herself, tightening her grip on Nozomi and letting herself go.

But if Hanayo would be happy, Rin knew that that was all that mattered to her.

* * *

With their newly founded relationship, Hanayo and Kotori had agreed to meet each other more often during the week, even without Rin being there. Hanayo had told Rin that quite delicately, but was glad to see that she didn't seem to mind.

As it had gotten later and low tide threatened the cave, she had had to leave. But as she left, the ever present nausea and lethargy had disappeared. She felt well again. Maybe this whole soulmate thing wasn't a lie.

Then again, at that very thought, Hanayo felt a rising blush again. It wasn't that she didn't like Kotori or she didn't like the idea of being with her, it was just… Such a big thing to deal with.

But now, she had to look to the future and what it held. Not that she could know for sure, but issues and worries arose in her head. But Rin was there for her and so was Kotori, on both land and in sea. It was a comforting thought.

And now that she felt well again, Rin seemed a lot better emotionally as well. Although there was still a hint of sadness, Hanayo couldn't help but notice.

* * *

Time had passed, a few months to be exact, and Kotori felt more and more confident within her relationship. It felt right she thought. Even if humans and merpeople were different, she perhaps thought that some humans did experience a soulmate connection to their partner, albeit at a lesser level.

She made her way to the cave again, only to find Hanayo was already there, daydreaming under the water, but quickly poking her head out when she noticed the familiar shape hopping over the rock.

Kotori had been distracted for that split second, unfortunately losing her footing on one of the wetter rocks, and with a surprised yelp slipped into the water.

She couldn't help but be thankful that she had landed in the water rather than on the rocks, despite the slight sting of salt water in her eyes.

She was even more thankful for the arms that wrapped around her waist and quickly pulled her to the surface, especially seeing as they belonged to Hanayo.

She took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes as she was faced with the mermaid being rather close to her.

"A-are you okay Kotori-chan?"

Seeing as she seemed somewhat panicked, Kotori could only giggle and put her arms around her waist as well, "I'm perfectly fine."

When the realisation hit her that she was quite close, Hanayo shrunk a little bit into the water, but Kotori took the opportunity and kissed her forehead.

In order to cover her rising blush, Hanayo pulled away, putting her hands over her face as Kotori gently let go of her and propped herself up on the rock, lazily kicking her legs underneath the swirling water as she gave Hanayo a chance to catch herself.

When she had recovered, Hanayo made her way onto the rock beside her, glancing away as she placed her hand over Kotori's. Although not horribly used to physical affection, other than a bit of platonic gestures here and there with Rin, Hanayo was trying her best, and in all honestly, Kotori found how much she tried absolutely adorable.

Kotori flipped her hand over and intertwined their fingers together, prompting Hanayo to look her way.

"Thanks for catching me in the water," Kotori said quietly.

"I-it was nothing…" Hanayo said, fiddling with her free hand.

As the conversation slowly grew and the two fell into a natural sway of talking about events over the days they hadn't seen each other and also general questions about culture, regardless of whether or not they had gone over those things before. But when it slowed, Hanayo leant her head on Kotori's shoulder; Kotori smiling in response.

"Hey, Hanayo-chan?"

"Mm?"

"Look over here for a second."

When Hanayo raised her head only slightly, Kotori was already leaning down to place a soft kiss on her lips, nothing too deep or intimate, but enough to make both of their hearts flutter.

' _This is a lot more than a second.'_

Kotori briefly had that thought before she realised Hanayo hadn't moved back to break it, so she took it a little further, venturing to wrap an arm around her back.

After a few more rather generous seconds, the two moved away and Kotori noticed that adorable blush again. Neither of them were particularly in the mood for saying anything after that, so Hanayo went back to leaning on her shoulder.

The duo was quite sad to see low tide approaching as the water level lowered, so Hanayo sighed and slid off the rock into the water, "I'll see you soon?"

"Of course you will," Kotori said, moving her hair out of the way to kiss her forehead again, seeing Hanayo's embarrassed face as she dived back under and went away.

* * *

Upon seeing the relationship grow, Rin decided it was time to bring Hanayo to see Nozomi for any possible ways for things to be taken further. A couple of months had passed since the kiss and Hanayo had let herself become more and more comfortable around Kotori, allowing as much affection as either one wanted at the time.

"Nozomi-chan?" Rin called out, seeing that she wasn't inside her cave.

"Yes Rin-chan?" The two turned to see her just coming back, holding two cleaned crab shells.

"I brought Kayo-chin, nya!"

"Oh? Is this about making the decision to live on land?" She said, looking between the two of them with a gentle smile, "If it is, you're in luck. I just went out to go and search for these."

"H-how will they help?"

"It involves a little bit of spiritual power, but these are a way for merpeople to lose their tails."

"I'm… Not following, nya."

"That's because I haven't explained it yet," Nozomi said, not being able to stop herself from rolling her eyes, "But, before I go into it… Are you sure this is what you want Hanayo-chan? It's not something that can be reversed."

Hanayo was silent for a moment before nodding, "I-I am. And I'm sure if I asked Kotori-chan, she would be happy."

Rin smiled somewhat bittersweetly at that before letting Nozomi continue with her explanation.

"Y'see, it's well known that crabs can live both underwater and above water, no? In fact, some will pretty much exclusively live on land, even if they do go into the occasional rock pool," Nozomi let the shells fall to the sand below them for the moment, "But that's what's special. Although the creature inside these shells are, well, gone is the only way to put it, we can use their shells for a different purpose. You've heard of the Little Mermaid, haven't you? That fairy tale known by humans?"

As they both nodded, she seemed pleased, "Well, there is an element of truth to it. Although it sounds a little ominous, we won't dissolve into sea foam. I hope."

"Uhh…" Rin gave her a worried look before Nozomi shook her head.

"I'm just kidding with the both of you. Anyway, I can make something that'll give you human legs when consumed. I just don't ask for you to pay for it with your tongue and your voice," She joked again, letting out a small sigh, "If I recall, the way it works is the moment you consume it, if your entire body goes above water then your tail scales crumble away to reveal human legs. Not hugely sure about the small details though."

"W-will it hurt?"

Nozomi's smile softened, "It might. I don't know for sure."

Hanayo fiddled with her hands nervously, biting her lip, "I'll… I'll talk to Kotori-chan first."

Nozomi nodded understandingly, "This isn't something to take lightly."

"I know… I-I'll talk to you when we've decided…"

* * *

Hanayo was a little bit nervous, so she had naturally gotten there early. But now she had time to spend on thoughts, head poked out of the water and the gears in her head turning at a rapid pace. In fact, she nearly jumped in surprise when Kotori appeared behind her.

The start of the conversation was a little bit awkward, and Kotori noticed, trying to decide whether or not to push it. She decided she should.

"Hanayo-chan, is something wrong? You can talk to me about it, you know."

Hanayo jumped again at the Kotori's sudden catch, "I-it's just.. Well…"

Kotori allowed her a small pause as she gathered herself, "This… Won't work… The way it is now, I-I mean! Land and sea is a p-pretty huge barrier to break…"

Kotori nodded silently.

"But, I… Well, what would you say if I could live on land? W-with you instead of…"

She let herself trail off, looking up to see Kotori's expression.

"Then I would happily welcome that. It's been a while, hasn't it? I will admit that the barrier between us is a bit constricting and it would work better if I was with you or you were with me, wouldn't it?"

Hanayo suddenly pushed herself up onto the rock to be beside Kotori, taking both her hands with a surprising amount of determination, "Well, there is a way!"

"There is?" Kotori's eyes lit up.

"Yeah! M-my friend found a way… It… It might hurt though, she said she wasn't sure."

"Well… I promise if you want to do it I'll be there with you. And I'll offer as much support as you need, okay?" She kissed her cheek reassuringly.

"It would really help… Thank you for being here for me…" She mumbled a little bit.

"It's not a problem at all."

They shared a long, slow, kiss on the lips before splitting away and leaning their foreheads together.

"Kotori-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"I… I love you."

This time, it was Kotori's turn to feel a warm blush on her cheeks, "And I love you too."

But Kotori wasn't alone for much longer as Hanayo blushed even brighter than she did.

* * *

When Hanayo swam back to meet Nozomi, she was surprised to see that Nozomi had already gone through the process of making the potion in question.

"Y-you've already made it?"

"Well, I actually made one for myself as well. You're not the only one with a human soulmate," She said with a chuckle.

"Ah? W-well… Congratulations I-I suppose."

"Thank ya very much. Anyway, you made a decision?"

"We did… I'm going to go through with it," She said with resolve.

"I somehow knew you would. Here," Nozomi brought a bottle over, "Drink that when you're ready. I don't know how it tastes either," She said with another, but more nervous, chuckle.

Hanayo nodded and Nozomi grinned before bringing her in for a hug, "Good luck, eh? Maybe we can arrange a double date," She said, "Ask Kotori-chan about Ayase Eli, she should know her. Until we meet again, Hanayo-chan."

"O-of course! Good luck Nozomi-chan… U-until we meet again."

With a small wave, Hanayo swam away to prepare herself for the next time she saw Kotori, as well as finding Rin to come along with her.

* * *

The next few days had passed faster than she had realised, as Rin was eagerly taking her by the wrist and swimming up to the cave with her.

Rin had thought about this long and hard. She couldn't tell Hanayo to not do it, and of course she would miss her, but she would still be there. They would still visit and the only thing that would change would be that Hanayo was now on land. Rin could live with that.

Kotori was already there when they arrived this time, Hanayo only realising now how little she had been paying attention to the bottle in her hand. But, she was glad to see she still had a firm hold of it.

They greeted each other and Kotori slipped her feet into the water, "So how does it work?"

"Nozomi-chan said if I get completely out of the water after drinking it, I'll lose my tail in favour of human legs…" She tried not to think about how scary that actually sounded.

Rin then glanced between the two of them and nodded, "Are you ready, nya?"

Kotori nudged some of Hanayo's hair behind her ear, soothing her nerves as she spoke a bit more confidently, "I'm ready."

When she took that first drink, she had honestly expected it to taste worse. It could have been better, but it wasn't vile. It took her a moment to drain the bottle, not being able to stifle the cough and the two concerned looks she got.

She shook her head to confirm she was okay before turning to face the rocks properly, feeling Rin swim beside her to help her up, Kotori helping her as well.

As soon as she was propped up, the tip of her tail remained in the water, preventing the loss of her tail for now.

"You ready?" Kotori asked delicately as she rubbed her shoulder.

With a small pause of doubt, she adjusted herself back so her tail was fully above the surface.

A pang of sharp pain shot through her tail before she quickly turned and clung to Kotori, not wanting to watch what was happening to herself.

Neither Kotori nor Rin wanted to look either, Rin flinching away and Kotori simply comforting her by softly stroking her hair.

Thankfully, the rest of the pain was somewhat dull, but it felt like a long time until it was done. She raised her head from Kotori as a small signal it was done.

Kotori reached for the towel and swimming trunks she had brought as she realised her bottom half would be bare, "Here, put the trunks on and dry off a bit."

Hanayo did as she was told, now appropriately covered, but she couldn't help but dwell on her legs. They were strange and she didn't feel like she would get a hang of 'using' them at all.

"Done."

Kotori turned to look and so did Rin. Any remnants of the tail that was once there had crumbled away, seemingly without a trace. As neither had been looking, they didn't have much of a clue either.

It was a silent awe the trio shared and none of them felt like they should break the silence, until low tide began to take over. Rin looked at them both, trying to keep her smile, "I have to go Kayo-chin, Kotori-chan."

"Rin-chan," Kotori said, "I know this is difficult. But thank you for being there for her."

Rin sniffled quietly, "I-it's okay!"

"Rin-chan, I promise I'll be here to see you every three days! You've been so good to me…"

Rin couldn't take much more, noticing her eyes blurring and before she knew it, she was crying.

With a wail, she brought herself closer to hug the two tightly around the neck, "T-take care of her Kotori-chan!"

"Of course, Rin-chan," Kotori nodded, rubbing her back comfortingly.

Low tide broke this up quickly and Rin slid back into the water, not saying another word as she waved goodbye and turned to go.

Hanayo had begun to shed some tears as well, leaning into Kotori's warm embrace.

"Let's get you home, okay?"

Kotori stood, trying to help Hanayo up as well, but to little avail as her legs weren't something she was used to. So, Kotori simply lifted her up as she began to carefully step over the rocks, but before that, nuzzling a kiss onto her cheek and admiring the blush that spread.

When they reached the beach, Kotori figured that she could put Hanayo down and let her get used to the sensations of the land above water, even if it was the perhaps unpleasant feeling of sand between your toes.

Hanayo seemed quite taken with it though, still using Kotori as a support however.

Kotori glanced at the bright moon and the shimmering reflection in the water in front of them. She stared at it before turning back to a different kind of light.

Easing the two of them together, their foreheads rested on each other's before Kotori wrapped her arm around her back and pulled her in to press their lips together.

It was long and on slightly unsteady feet, but neither of them cared as their lips moved lazily against each other and felt much deeper to the both of them, even after splitting away for a moment to catch their breath, they soon found that they both leaned in to continue their kisses.

Maybe home could wait, Kotori thought.


End file.
